Multi paper roll support for article wrapping machines



Sept. 7, 1965 w. T. HANSEN ETAL 3,204,837

MULTI PAPER ROLL SUPPORT FOR ARTICLE WRAPPING MACHINES Flled Feb 21 1964INXJ/ENTORS- Mme-m 27 4/1 52 H VJDBQj/L TWA/A. MWrbE/M E Mflfl %M 27/57Armin/ars- United States Patent MULTI PAPER ROLL SUPPORT FOR ARTICLEWRAPPING MACHINES Warren T. Hansen, East Moline, and Milton A.Wertheimer, Rock Island, Ill., assignors to Geliman Manufacturing (30.,Rock Island, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Feb. 21, 1964, Ser.No. 346,436 Claims. (Cl. 24264) An important object of our invention isto provide a paper roll support of the character hereinafter describedwherein provision is made for readily supporting and moving intooperative position a full roll of paper to replace a roll which has beencompletely used in the wrapping operation of the article wrappingmachine.

Another object of this invention is the provision to accomplish theforegoing object by an arrangement which is simple in construction andoperation, requiring the operator merely to rotate the support todispose a full roll of paper for the depleted roll.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of partsto be hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings showing the preferred form .of construction, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of an article wrapping machineshowing our multi paper roll-support associated therewith;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of the same;

FIG. 3 is a view of one of the paper roll supporting arms taken on line3--3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a suggested crank.

Our improved multi paper roll support is especially designed for use inconnection with an article wrapping machine wherein the paper web from apaper roll is fed into the machine to be engaged by folding mechanism topaper wrap the article. In this connection, an article wrapping machineis indicated generally at A. It includes side frames from which thepaper roll support is supported.

Such support comprises a pair of mounting brackets 11 secured in anysuitable manner as at 12 to the side frames 10. These brackets 11 arepreferably triangularly shaped in side view and at their apex providebearings 13. Journalled in the bearings 13 are stud shafts 14 formed asintegral extensions of a main shaft 15. The shaft 15 is preferablysquare in cross section. Supported at the ends of the shaft 15 are enddiscs or plates 16. Arranged in parallel relation with respect to eachother and supported by the discs 16 for rotation, are thread-bearingshafts 17. The shafts 17 are arranged circumferentially with respect tothe discs 16 and in parallel spaced relation with respect to each other.

Each shaft 17 is rotated by means of a suitable crank 17 (FIG. 4) havinga socket 18' which fits upon the end 18 of each shaft 17 and bifurcatedas at 19' to receive a transverse pin 19, whereby to removably connectthe crank to the shaft 17 which is to be rotated.

Arranged on each shaft 17 (there being four of such shafts) areparallelly spaced apart arms 20. The shaft 17 is threaded through athread-bearing bearing 21 of the arms 20, whereby, when the shaft 17 isrotated by means of the crank, the arms will move toward each other. Thearms 20 support therebetween a core 22 of a paper roll 23. Each arm 20is provided with a tapered spindle 24 which is adapted to be wedged intothe core 22 a sufficient distance to firmly hold the core between thearms 20 and yet permit rotation of the latter to allow the paper web tobe unrolled therefrom when in use.

Each of the arms 20 at their inner end portions provides an extensionlug 25 which, through an adjustable screw 25 engages the adjacent edge26 of the shaft 15 whereby to properly balance the arm 20 upon its respective shaft 17. By adjusting the screw 25', the roll of paper in use(that is, the roll from which the paper web is being unwound) may beadjusted to a proper position with respect to the machine A.

To complete the invention there is provided an indexing arrangement forindexing the paper roll support in a proper position to support a rollof paper with respect to the machine 10. Such indexing arrangement alsorestrains the support from rotating during unwinding of the paper webfrom one of the rolls. Such indexing arrangement includes a notch plate29, there being four of such plates mounted on one of the end discs 16and midway between the shafts 17, as best seen in FIG. 1.

A latch pin 30 is carried by the adjacent 'bar 31 of one of the plates11. Such pin 30, by means of a spring 32, is normally urged into latchedposition. To facilitate withdrawing the latch pin 30 from engagement inthe notch 33 of the plate 29, is a hand knob 34.

In use the support will support four rolls of paper, there being oneroll disposed between each pair of arms 20. The crank 17 when positionedupon the stud shaft 14 with the pin 35 engaging in the bifurcated socketportion 18, is utilized to rotate the support to dispose one of therolls of paper in position for use, such roll being indicated at B. Thisis accomplished by the withdrawing the latch pin 30 from engagement inthe notch 33 to allow the support to be rotated to dispose the roll ofpaper B in a position to be used.

When the paper of the roll B has been fully depleted, by rotating thesupport through the medium of the crank and by withdrawal of the latchpin 30 the next roll of paper on the support may be brought into theposition occupied by the used paper roll.

In this manner, as a roll of paper has been depleted, a full roll besubstituted therefor by simply rotating the support 90".

To restrain each roll of paper from unwinding when not being unwound byoperation of the machine, there is provided for each roll a tensioning.arm 36. This arm 36 is in the form of a fiat spring strip connected tothe shaft 15 as at 37 and has its outer free end portion 38 yieldablybearing on the adjacent roll of paper.

Heretofore, .article wrapping machines had an arrangement for supportingbut one roll of paper. Whenever such roll was depleted, it was necessaryfor the operator to remove the paper core and replace the same withanother roll of paper. This was accomplished through a time-consumingand complicated adjustment of mechannisms. In our invention, wheneverthe roll of paper hecomes depleted, all the operator need do is to applythe crank to the stud 14 of the main shaft 15, withdraw the latch pin30, "and rotate the support 90, thus bringing into position a full rollof paper ready for threading into the machine.

It will thus be apparent that the operator may at all times maintain anample supply of four rolls of paper ready for use whenever required.This is accomplished by a mechanism which is simple in construction andoperation.

Our invention is especially useful in cases where the packages to bewrapped are not of uniform width and require the paper rolls to be ofdifferent widths. Our multi paper roll support is so constructed as tosupport rolls of paper of different widths, this being accomplished byadjusting the arms 20 to a position corresponding to the width of theroll. In wrapping a package of a different width, all that the operatorneed do is to select the part of the operator.

While we have illustrated and described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying our invention into effect, this is capable ofvariation and modification without departing from the spirit of theinvention. We, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precisedetails of construction set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of suchvariations and modifications as come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. A multi paper roll support for an article Wrapping machine comprising(a) oppositely disposed mounting brackets extending from an adjacentframe of the machine.

(b) a rotatable main shaft extending between and having end portionsjournalled in said brackets,

(c) end plates on said shaft,

(d) parallelly extending thread-bearing shafts circumferentiallydisposed with respect to said plates and in parallel relation to saidmain shaft and having end portions journalled in said plates,

(e) a pair of supporting arms threadably mounted on each of saidthread-bearing shafts and having means at their outer end portions forremovably supporting a core of a roll of paper therebetween, said armsat their opposite end portions having end lugs having bearing engagementon said main shaft so as to balance said pair of arms in a predeterminedposition with respect to said main shaft.

2. The device of claim 1 further characterized by the inclusion of latchmeans for latching said end plates in a predetermined position withrespect to said brackets.

3. A multi paper roll support for an article wrapping machine comprising(a) oppositely disposed mounting brackets extending from an adjacentframe of the machine,

(b) a rotatable main shaft extending between and having end portionsjournalled in said brackets,

(c) end plates on said shaft,

(d) rotatable, parallelly extending, thread-bearing shaftscircumferentially disposed with respect to said plates and in parallelrelation to said main shaft and having end portions journalled in saidplates,

(e) said end plates being adjustable relative to said thread-bearingshafts,

(f) a pair of supporting arms threadably mounted on each of saidthread-bearing shafts and having means at their outer end portions forremovably supporting a core of a roll of paper therebetween, said armsat their opposite end portions having end lugs having bearing engagementon said main shaft so as to balance said pair of arms in a predeterminedposition with respect to said main shaft.

4. The device of claim 3 further characterized by the inclusion of latchmeans for latching said end plates in a predetermined position withrespect to said brackets.

5. A multi paper roll support for an article wrapping machine comprising(a) oppositely disposed mounting brackets extending from an adjacentframe of the machine,

(b) a rotatable main shaft extending between and having end portionsjournalled in said brackets,

(c) end plates on said shaft,

(d) parallelly extending thread-bearing shafts circumferentiallydisposed with respect to said plates and in parallel relation to saidmain shaft and having end portions journalled in said plates,

(e) a pair of supporting arms threadably mounted on each of saidthread-bearing shafts and having means at their outer end portions forremovably supporting a roll of paper therebetween, said arms at theiropposite end portions having end lugs having bearing engagement on saidmain shaft so as to balance said pair of arms in a predeterminedposition with respect to said main shaft,

(f) and tensioning means for said roll of paper.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 744,140 11/03Wemyss 2426 8.4 1,379,164 5/21 Bullis 242--64 X 1,449,093 3 23 Finley24264 2,405,637 8/46 Behrens 242-64 X 45 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

1. A MULTI PAPER ROLL SUPPORT FOR AN ARTICLE WRAPPING MACHINE COMPRISING(A) OPPOSITELY DISPOSED MOUNTING BRACKETS EXTENDING FROM AN ADJACENTFRAME OF THE MACHINE. (B) A ROTATABLE MAIN SHAFT EXTENDING BETWEEN ANDHAVING END PORTIONS JOURNALLED IN SAID BRACKETS, (C) END PLATES ON SAIDSHAFT, (D) PARALLELLY EXTENDING THREAD-BEARING SHAFTS CIRCUMFERENTIALLYDISPOSED WITH RESPECT TO SAID PLATES AND IN PARALLEL RELATION TO SAIDMAIN SHAFT AND HAVING END PORTIONS JOURNALLED IN SAID PLATES, (E) A PAIROF SUPPORTING ARMS THREADABLY MOUNTED ON EACH OF SAID THREAD-BEARINGSHAFTS AND HAVING MEANS AT THEIR OUTER END PORTIONS FOR REMOVABLYSUPPORTING A CORE OF A ROLL OF PAPER THEREBETWEEN, SAID ARMS AT THEIROPPOSITE END PORTIONS HAVING END LUGS HAVING BEARING ENGAGEMENT ON SAIDMAIN SHAFT SO AS TO BALANCE SAID AIR OF ARMS IN A PREDETERMINED POSITIONWITH RESPECT TO SAID MAIN SHAFT.